Packing-rack.



H. L. GLIDDEN & W. P. HAMMOND.

PACKING RACK.

APPLICATION mm FEB. 4. 1916.

1L ,QUQfiU'Y Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

HARVEY L. GLIDDEN, 0F NATIGK, ANT) WILLIAM 1. HAMMOND, 015 BOSTON, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PACKING-RACK.

raoaeo'r.

Application filed February 4, 1916.

description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to racks, and in particular to racks used in manufacturing establishments for packing and transporting cases of merchandise. It has been proposed to equip such racks with inclined end frames in order to adapt them for picking up and dumping the cases but difficulty has been experienced in the picking up operation owing to the tendency of the rack and its load to run away either toward or from the operator as soon as it is resting on one pair of casters since the inclined end frames necessitate placing the casters more nearly under the center of gravity of the load than would be otherwise advisable.

It is the object of our invention to provide a rack which shall obviate difficulties of this kind heretofore experienced.

A feature of our invention is a rack having a frame arranged to support it in an inclined position, and having a caster arranged entirely within the supporting surface of said frame.

Another feature of our invention is a rack having a frame arranged to support it in an inclined position, and having a caster provided with a tongue arranged to swing outside the supporting surface of said frame.

In the drawing which illustrates a preferred form of the invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a caster which we have found well adapted to the practice of our invention, Figs. 2, 3, 4L and 5 are views of our packing rack in various positions.

The side frames of the packing racks are made of angle bars 10 bent at the points 11, 12 and 13. The bends at 11 and 12 are about 45 degrees each. The bend at 13 is about 60 degrees. The top frame 14 is suitably at- Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented (lot. 2%, 1916.

Serial No. 76,181.

tached to the side frames and suitable cross braces are adopted to.un1te the frames to COMPANY, OF PATEBSON,

one another. A pick-up toe 15 is mounted a transversely across the front of the top frame.

The rack is supported at each lower corner by a caster shown in detail in Fig. 1. The base plate 16 carries a pillar 17 having a carrier 18 swiveled at its lower end. The wheels 19 are mounted upon the carrier 18. The carrier also has a friction roller 20 which engages the pillar 17 near its upper end, and a tongue 21 which carries-a transverse scraper bar 22, the function of which is to clean off dirt picked up by the wheels as they roll over a floor.

Fig. 3 shows the position in which the rack may be placed while the case carried by it is being packed. It will be noticed (Fig. 3) that the front casters are so mounted upon the bottom bar that they just clear the floor when turned up. On a smooth fioor the rack will rest firmly upon the portions 23 of the angle bars 10. If the floor is rough or if the load so balances that a longer base is desirable, the position shown in Fig. 4: will be adopted, the tongues 21 of the downturned casters biting into the floor and anchoring the rack as well as furnishing a longer supporting base. In practice the rack will assume the Fig. 3 or Fig. a position when tipped according to the direction in which it has been traveling. The operator can make it take either position at will by reversing the direction of travel for a few inches before tipping in order to reverse the direction of trail of the casters.

In case the center of gravity of the load is so situated that the rack tends to run away when the operator tips it back from the Fig. 3 position over the front casters into a horizontal position, the operator will first lift the rear end of the rack slightly as shown in Fig. 4: so that the front casters can swivel around their pillars 17 allowing the tongues 21 to hang downward. On tipping the rack backward again the tongues 21 will bite into the floor, thus preventing any tendency to run away until the front caster wheels 19 have swung around the tongues 21 into contact with the floor at which time the rack will be nearly horizontal and the tendency to run away consequen'tly practically negligible. A similar procedure may be resorted to in dumping the load. If a tendency to run away is observed duringthis operation, the operator will 'move-the rack slightly forward in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, which-will turn the tongues of all the casters backward.

He will then tip the rack up toward the rear and before it has moved very far from the horizontal the tongues 21 will bite into the floor and hold it firmlyagainst any tendency to run away.

It will be, obvious also that the procedure illustrated in Fig. A mayprove advantagGOHSiIH :p1ck1ng=.up-a load. Y

xHavingzdescribed'our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1.? In a rack of :the character described, a

I -baseframe, opposite-end frames connected -torsaid-base frame, one being inclined upwardly away from the other, a top frame .suppo'rtedrbyi-said end frames, and two pairs of oasterssecured to=said base frame near its opposite ends insuch. positions that, when the xwra' ek -is, -r esting onsaid inclined end frame the perlpherieshof the casters atthat end will lie slightly above the supporting surfaces of said inclined end'frame.

2. A rack having a supportlng member arranged at an angle to the horizontal for supporting the rack in an inclined position I and a caster constructedand arranged to be placeable either into or out of contact with the floor while the rack is in inclined position.

the rack in inclined position, a caster havlng a'pro ectn1g tongue arranged to drop below the supporting surface of said oblique frame.

In'testimony whereof I, the said I'IARVEY 'L. GLIDDEN, have signed-my name-to this specification.

' 'HARVEYL. GLIDDEN.

In testimony whereof I, the said WILLIAM P. HAMMoND, have signed my name-to this specification.

WILLIAM P. HAMMOND.

' M20111 ofvthis' patentemay'be obtained for -five cents each by-addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

